A Trial Court in St. Johns County, FL (south of Jacksonville, FL) hearing a premises liability case found Plaintiff fifty percent comparatively negligent for Plaintiff’s slip and fall injuries because she was wearing high heels at the time of the fall. Plaintiff alleged that she fell on an “usually slippery floor” in the restroom of the Defendant’s property where the Plaintiff worked.
The Appellate Court found the property owner failed to prove that Plaintiff “….created a foreseeable zone of risk by wearing high-heeled shoes to work and, therefore, the trial court erred in finding her comparatively negligent for her injuries.”
The Court noted that the appropriate inquiry to ascertain whether a duty was created arose from the conduct that created a foreseeable risk, not that the risk existed or a particular risk was foreseeable. The Appellate Court found the record contained “no facts” to support Trial Court’s finding that Plaintiff was negligent for wearing high heels.
The Opinion may be found at
http://www.5dca.org/Opinions/Opin2015/032315/5D14-267.op.pdf